An opening ceremony starring a Beatle, a queen and Mr. Bean proved irresistible for viewers in the U.S., with a record-setting 40.7 million people watching NBC’s Summer Olympics opener.
Love it or hate it, Nielsen reported Saturday it was the most-watched of any summer or winter games, topping the 39.8 million who watched Atlanta in 1996 and the 34.9 million who watched the colorful first night from Beijing in 2008.
NBC hasn’t escaped criticism, though, for not broadcasting the opener live, just as it didn’t Saturday’s swimming race that awarded America’s first gold medal of the games, to Ryan Lochte. And the network took heat for apparent selective editing of the ceremony.